Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin and More Are "Proud" of Anderson Cooper

Within hours of Anderson Cooper coming out, stars and media figures offered their support and congratulations to the CNN anchor and daytime talk show host.

“I”m proud of you, @AndersonCooper,” Ellen DeGeneres, who came out years ago, wrote on Twitter.

Neil Patrick Harris also gave the newsman his good wishes, writing, “Good for you, @AndersonCooper. You”re awesome.”

Both messages have been re-tweeted almost 5,000 times.

On Monday, Cooper wrote an open letter to his longtime friend Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast saying, “The fact is, I”m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn”t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”

Cooper also received well-wishes from TV pals such as Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who tweeted: “One of the reasons I look up to my friend @andersoncooper is his amazing eloquence. Very proud of him!”

Fellow CNN anchor Don Lemon tweeted his congrats and added, “We should all be supportive.”

Meanwhile, funny ladies Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin also expressed their congratulations. Griffin, who has hosted a New Year”s program with Cooper many times, refrained from joking and instead posted an adorable picture on Facebook of herself holding hands with Cooper along with the message: “Here I am with my friend Anderson Cooper who I”m so proud of.” It has gotten almost 50,000 likes.

Rivers took a lighthearted approach to her Cooper comment, saying: “Thrilled @AndersonCooper came out! So, THAT”S why he never wanted to date me! I would”ve loved having Gloria Vanderbilt as my mother-in-law.”